Reforestation
by Loreadana
Summary: Set during/post the 7th Iron Fist Tournament. Overwhelmed with work on her reforestation project, Julia takes a walk in the rich forest of Kyushu to clear her mind. She gets more than she bargained for, as an avalanche of events is sprung into motion.
1. Chapter 1

**Reforestation**

 **Set during/post the 7th Iron Fist Tournament. Overwhelmed with work on her reforestation project, Julia takes a walk in the rich forest of Kyushu to clear her mind. She gets more than she bargained for, as an avalanche of events is sprung into motion.**

 _I have been reading fan-fiction on this site for years and finally decided to write one on my own! It was inspired by SP2 Julia's story-line release and also by some of Scenario Campaign dialogues from Tekken 6. I will try my best to combine whole Tekken story into this fan-fiction._

 _In my personal life I have visited and traveled in all of Japan's main islands and have fallen in love with the south - Kyushu, Okinawa and Sakurajima volcano island, so I thought it would make an interesting location for the fanfic. The fan-fiction may begin light-hearted but it will get dark later. Please do not read if you are sensitive to mature themes, like sexual abuse, trauma or murder._

...

 _Chapter 1: The damsel-in-distress_

Lee Chaolan always believed that Tokyo and Kyoto are overrated. When establishing his state-of-the-art technology company, Violet Systems, he has surprised his investors by choosing Fukoka province as the location for the company's Japanese Head Quarters.

Located in the most southern of Japan's main islands, Kyushu, Fukoka province offered a beautiful setting, with it's rich forest and greenery, spreading around the Onga River all the way up to Mt. Aso in the south, Beppu in the east and the Genkai-nada Sea to the west.

Being a multi-billionaire businessmen also helped in this decision, as Lee did not fail to notice that property prices near the city of Fukoka were MUCH lower than near Tokyo. Not to mention less pollution, and pristine nature all around the premises. AND a huge city with very well developed network and public transport nearby.

Taking all these things into consideration, he build the Violet System HQ on piece of land he purchased located few kilometer's east of the city of Fukoka, and made a deal with the city's council to build an additional railway connection for Violet System's blue and white collar employees, who need to commute to work daily. After all Violet System's was one of the bigger employers in this region now.

It was almost midnight and after a whole day of work he was busy relaxing in his office. _Excellent_ , thought Lee, his lips glazed lazily over a glass filled with the finest quality champagne, as he pondered over his accomplishments.

The turbulent set of events which lead to the conclusion of the 7th King of Iron Fist Tournament, has sure helped his cause. People were desperate for stability and jobs, and were looking for companies and conglomerates that are ethical and trustworthy, since everyone was tired of G Corporation's and and Mishima Zaibatsu's antics.

Lars Alexandersson and Jin Kazama were currently busy in sharing their control over Mishima Zaibatsu in order to use its wealth and power to rebuild the war-destructed areas. They launched and supervised philanthropic campaigns all around the world, especially in developing countries struck by natural disasters, which were unleashed upon the world during Azazel's awakening. They were also busy destroying the remaining Mishima Zaibatsu's labs, since the technology used there involved human experiments and should never exist in the first place.

The two Mishima men were definitely not friends, they still felt deep hatred towards each other, which, Lee thought, would never go away, since _this is the curse of the Mishima's - to fight and hate each other_ , but decided to temporary work together for a greater good. They engaged other fighters to help them in their native countries, like Hwoarang, the Korean fighter, Eddy Gordo, the Brazilian Capoera master and surprisingly... the one and only - Miss Nina Williams, who decided to turn the tide a little bit, and while keeping her assassin missions on the side as an additional source of income, she agreed to help using her vast network of mafia and former employer's connection's for greater good.

In the meantime Lee carefully designed his own PR campaign, to advertise Violet Systems as an industry and robotics giant, that is eco-friendly and supports smaller projects related to environment protection. This has helped him to accelerate growth and begin to build customer trust, AND of course to actually help the nature.

Violet System's Research Labs near Fukoka's HQ were one of such projects. Located little bit deeper in the park that the HQ building itself, the smaller plant was connected with the HQ by underground tunnel, making it easy for employees to travel between the divisions for meetings.

Lee has always favored a very personal approach when it comes to his employees, and often he would wander around and inside the HQ and Research Lab's premises, saying _Good Day_ and _Hello!_ to his employees in person. Research Lab consisted usually of young talent's, gifted students and young graduates from all around the world, under tutelage of more experienced scientists and professors. The teams worked on eco-friendly technologies, like water recycling methods, saving of endangered species or reintroduction of almost extinct species back into the eco-system, air pollution relief and most importantly - reforestation of the world's deserts.

 _The Reforestation project_ , mused Lee, from pipeline dream into a full-blown operating facilities in less than a year... _All thanks to a very particular and determined young woman, who against all odds launched an online campaign and managed to get the initial costs covered by crowd-funding,... simply incredible!_. The young woman's name was Julia Chang and she was a known Iron Fist Tournament veteran. Lee remembered her adopted mother from the 1st and 2nd Tournament, and was not surprised to see that the daughter turned out as strong and kind-hearted as her.

Julia was determined not to let her homeland, Arizona, turn into a desert, and she has sought Violet System's help in financing her research in it's later stages. In the begging, she arranged a co-working space between G Corp Research Facilities subsidiary in the US and University of Phoenix in Arizona, and the initial project draft was created, and the data gathering begun. At that time she has invented and patented a program called _GENOCELL_ , which was used in genetics, and in particular, used as a gene modification monitoring software.

Because of this, the whole drama with Mishima Zaibatsu was started, since they have stolen the research team's data and _GENOCELL_ along with it. Dr Abel, the head of what should be called _Mishima Zaibatsu's Most Fucked-Up Research Division_ , wanted to use the program to combine human DNA with Devil Gene samples to create new life form.

 _Thank Kami-sama that this has not happened,_ thought Lee, as he left his office and headed to the underground train station leading to the VS labs. _The world was on the edge of a catastrophe because of Mishima Zaibatsu's experiments..._ . He headed into the elevator, took the ride to the lowest floor and entered his private 1st class couch. He suddenly thought to himself _Hmm, now thinking about it, Julia has never actually told me how she managed to retrieve the stolen data..._ .

...

Despite it being close to midnight, inside one of Violet System's Research Labs the light was still on. A young woman with dark brown hair and hazel eyes was typing furiously on her keyboard with a frustrated look on her face. Since Violet System's has helped her with managing her online campaign for The Reforestation Project, all has been going great, but from time to she had to deal with some annoying internet trolls leaving dumb comments on the project's official social media accounts.

 _I will need to ask Lee to approve a new position for a website moderator in the next budget_ , she thought to herself, I cannot handle managing the research in Arizona remotely, plus gathering more data here, PLUS dealing with some idiots online... . Suddenly, she noticed that one of the comments was left by someone with a very particular nickname - "Ganryu-donno".

 _Oh Spirits! Please don't let it be who I think it might be..._ . With a mortified look on her face she recalled how the old, sweaty sumo wrestler, tried to get her attention during the 5th King of Iron Fist Tournament. Julia's pretty face visibly winced, as she remembered how he came back crawling on his knees in front of her during the 6th Iron Fist Tournament, her stolen research data in his one hand and an engagement ring in another.

Julia thought to herself, _World was on the verge of disaster with the GENOCELL program falling into the wrong hands, only to be saved and recovered by one love-struck, old pervert, who chased me because I reminded him of my Mom from 20 years ago..._ .

Feeling the cringe was becoming unbearable, she decided to call it a day and closed her laptop, a little too hard.

 _\- Had enough for today Miss Chang?_ came a voice from the doorway. She turned around quickly, only to see Lee Chaolan leaning against the wall with an amused smirk on his face. He had his purple suit and his decorative satin coat on, looking rich and very out of place in a dark labo room.

 _\- Mr Lee! Hello, yes actually_ , answered Julia in fluent Japanese, _\- I was just getting ready to start my weekend, but had to deal with some internet trolls first_ , she smiled apologetically.

 _\- Remind me to approve a higher budget to hire someone who will deal with this mess professionally, I don't want my number one protege to loose her Friday evening over a bunch of trolls_ , Lee smiled, _\- now i came to fetch you personally, because the security guys have already left the building and only my badge will work to open the front door_.

Julia smiled and gathered her backpack and jacket quickly. As they begun to walk towards the entrance hall together Lee suddenly noticed,

 _\- Miss Chang, you have cut your hair. I must say you look very cute, but I am intrigued - that was after all VERY long hair and it is an important aspect in Native American culture if I am not mistaken. Why the change if I may ask,... met some special who prefers it short perhaps?_ Lee fired the personal question with the most innocent look on his face.

Julia blushed slightly at the comment, Lee was a known womanizer and it made her slightly embarrassed,

 _\- Erm, no actually I donated my hair, she replied._

 _\- Donated? What do you mean donated?_ asked Lee curiously. He has never heard about "donating hair".

Julia smiled slightly and answered shyly, _\- It was natural and long hair, so it can be used in making wigs. I have found a hair saloon that donates the cut hair to a company that makes wigs for cancer treatment patients, you know, if they loose hair... I mean, mine will grow back in no time, but if I can help someone instead of just letting it go to waste..._

Lee laughed and smiled at her, _\- Ohh, Miss Chang, I must say I am surprised and not surprised at the same time! Surprised, because I have never heard about such initiative, not surprised, because you always think about others!_

They were now at the entrance hall ready to leave and part ways, when suddenly Lee leaned over, WAY too close and WAY to creepy to her face and shoot,

- _As much as I and your colleague's here love this kind-hearted and selfless approach of yours, you must not forget about yourself Miss Chang! It is Friday evening and you are 21, living in the bright city of Fukoka! Dress up nicely and find some lucky Japanese man who will spoil you whole weekend! ... Or maybe even longer than that!_

Then Lee suddenly with one swift motion, took of the rubber bands of both of her braids and her now shoulder length hair fell loose.

\- _Now Miss Chang, much to my sadness, the time has come to part ways! Let the autumn breeze run through your hair and enjoy your walk home! Have an EXCELLENT weekend!_ Lee winked at her and proceed to flash his famous win-pose as he left trough the door.

As soon as she was alone she face-palmed hard at the situation. _Oh Spirits! What the hell was that... Mr Lee is nice but sure he can be such a creep sometimes..._ . His comment about "finding a Japanese man" made her think of THAT particular fat, old, stalking Japanese guy and she shuddered at the thought.

\- _Oh Spirits! If it will ever be a Japanese man, please do not let him even closely resemble Ganryu!_ With this last thought, Julia headed out into the outer premises of the building.

...

The fresh night air and gentle breeze made her suddenly feel alive again. Usually she would go for a walk around the premises during her lunch break, but this Friday was so busy that she simply did not have time. She stayed whole day in the inside, underground facility, feeling more like a canned tuna with each passing hour.

Initially, she begun to head in the direction of the Violet Systems metro line, but on a whim decided to change her destination. She knew she is completely alone here at this hour and that there is a small system of _onsen_ hot springs nearby, just right behind the labo building. Only a few of the employees knew about this, mostly Japanese locals, and it was no secret that people would hop there from time to time for a relaxing bath before or after work.

On her way to the _onsen_ Julia was thinking about all the latest events in her life. During the 6th tournament, she visited an elder Apache woman who owned a vast piece of land in Arizona, that could be used for the reforestation project. The woman was gifted in the supernatural and has told her that Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima must never cross paths, or else a great evil will be unleashed upon the Earth. It marked the forthcoming of Azazel, The Rectifier who by unmaking the current world with natural disasters, would give beginning to a new world. In the end, Jin Kazama has decided to sacrifice himself to defeat Azazel and was presumed to be dead, only to be found later by a secret United Nations army and afterwards recaptured and rescued by Violet Systems.

During the 6th Iron Fist Tournament, Julia has met an intriguing Egyptian woman named Zafina, who remarkably shared the same goal as Julia. Zafina was intrigued about how the old Apache woman knew about the prophecy and Julia promised her that one day if their paths will cross again, she will bring her to Arizona to talk to the woman.

Their encounter during the tournament was actually a scheduled fight, which ended in a Double K.O., as both women were equally gifted and strong. Both Zafina and Julia, felt they share a connection, and even thought they were raised world apart and lead completely different lifestyle, their hearts and minds were in the same place.

Less than few weeks after the 6th tournament Julia's childhood friend has gotten into a car accident. She was a luchadora wrestler going under the alias of Jaycee, very well known in the wrestling world, and enormously popular. She had a whole 3 month tour of fights scheduled ahead and cancelling it could end her relationship with the sponsors forever, leading to end of her career on the ring eventually.

Julia was similar in height and build to Jaycee and a very strong fighter, so she promised she will take over the mask temporarily. The same day she has sought out the remaining twin brother of the late Armor King I for training purposes. He was positively surprised and saw the wrestling potential in the young woman, so he immediately agreed to take her in to begin practice.

In less than 3 weeks, Julia has managed to master some flag wrestling moves, and mixed it with her own style, and headed out into the ring for the first time. She managed to take down the notorious Craig Marduk and score a draw in a match with the famous wrestler King, for which she has received standing ovation from the whole stadium. In the following 3 months, she had to divide her time between managing her reforestation work and fighting wrestling matches every few days, in different parts of the world during the tour. She was exhausted by the fights, amount of work and constantly having to hide her identity, and she became sloppy in her fighting style.

Too many times she has forgotten herself on the ring. Instead of using the softer wrestling moves with less damage, which were also more theatrical to please the audience, she was knocking opponents with her elbows and Kung-fu. At the end of the tour, the fights were ending way too quickly because of this, and the crowd was not pleased. They came to watch an amusing wrestling match, which should at least last some hours, and not a quick K.O. with one swift move.

Julia realized she will give Jaycee a bad name if she keeps doing this. She managed to come back to normal wrestling mode at the end of the tour, and was glad to see that the real Jaycee has recovered enough to resume back her activities.

The whole _wrestling saga_ has in the end been an interesting experience for Julia, and she definitely had no regrets. Well, beside one - the famous wrestler King.

Julia mentally cringed as she remembered he was going crazy to discover Jaycee's real identity and was stalking her constantly when she was under the shower or in the changing room. Finally, one day he got lucky enough to catch a glimpse of her face and hell broke loose. King was in such a shock to see his old tournament friend Julia behind the mask and got really pissed at her that she managed to almost defeat him. His _macho_ attitude had in the end pissed off Julia, who felt hurt that instead of being supportive and proud of her, he chose to behave this way just because his _ego_ could not handle it. They stopped talking and Julia was still sad about it, but well, as they say _true friends will celebrate one's victories together,_ so in their case the friendship was not actually a real friendship, thought Julia.

After the wrestling tour, Julia has gotten seriously busy with her reforestation project. She has managed, with the help of Violet Systems and the company's weird CEO Lee Chaolan, to launch an online campaign for the project which proved to be successful. They took some months to set the project ready in Arizona and Julia could head to Japan on special work visa to continue data gathering here. _Kyushu was a perfect choice for their HQ after all_ , thought Julia, since its rich forest and unique eco system could help to understand how to develop similar tree system in desert lands or areas deforested by extensive agriculture, like the Amazon which was shrinking every year.

Deep in her thoughts, she has finally reached the small hot spring clearing. The moon was full so it was all beautifully lit, with the steam of the onsen engulfing the whole area, it seemed almost magical.

Violet Systems' employees had a lot of facilities available for their personal use including a gym in the lab division basement. Julia would often do strength training and some cardio in the morning, before starting her work day, so she had spare clean clothes and a towel with her in her backpack.

She looked around nervously, making sure that there is no one peeking, _I am being paranoid_ , she thought to herself, _surely no one beside me is mad enough to take a bath in a hot spring at midnight on a Friday evening..._ . She stripped herself off her clothes and stepped into the _onsen_.

She begun to relax immediately as the warm water engulfed her tired body. She relaxed and leaned back against the rocks behind her, bending her head slightly outwards and closing her eyes. She couldn't help but let a small relaxed sigh. It has been a while since she visited the clearing, she put a mental reminder to herself to do it more often as of now.

The only sounds surrounding her were the sounds of the forest, gentle breeze and small animals making noises in the trees nearby. Fireflies have begun gathering around the hot spring, the _hotaru_ as the Japanese called them, combined with the forest sounds, it gave the clearing an eerie vibe.

Julia opened her eyes and soaked the serene scene. Her thoughts begun to wander towards her homeland, Arizona, and her barren lands with a harsh climate. Even though the island of Kyushu was so different in terms of landscape and culture, somehow she felt oddly at home here too. It was thanks to the friendly and welcoming locals and some friends who stayed in Japan or who lived there after the 7th Iron Fist Tournament, like the German spelunker and adventurer Leo Kliesen, or the crazy vigilant girl Asuka Kazama. She would travel north to meet up with them from time to time, since they really bonded during the last tournament. Despite that, Julia still of course missed her tribe, her childhood friends and most importantly her adoptive mom Michelle.

 _Ahh Mom, I wish you were here with me now... 3 more months and I can come visit you for Christmas, I cannot wait!_ , thought Julia with a warm feeling in her heart. Despite living abroad, her situation was very favorable, since Lee let her fly home every 3 to 4 months to visit her family and tribe. The official reason for visit was of course to supervise how the planting process of the modified trees is doing back there, but Lee would let her always stay longer than necessary, so she could spend time with everybody.

Julia's thoughts wandered to her mother. Michelle Chang, the daughter of Bernard Chang, a business man from Hong-Kong and a Navajo woman from Arizona named also Julia, whom he fell in love with at first sight when he met her.

Bernard was actually working for Heihachi Mishima at that time and was sent to Arizona to spy on one of the tribes living there, in search of the legendary Native American pendant.

The said pendant, was rumored to have the power to control a deity-like being, to which the tribe simply referred to as _Ancient Ogre_. The being, which Heihachi named _Toshin_ in his own language, was allegedly slumbering somewhere in Native American ruins on the border of Arizona and New Mexico. Unknown to Heihachi, the owner of the pendant was actually the Navajo woman, whom his spy has met and fell in love with.

Bernard Chang in the end had to choose between his loyalty to the Mishima Zaibatsu or his new found love interest, and he chose the latter. For that Heihachi made him pay the highest price - he was hunted down and executed by the Zaibatsu spies, leaving Julia, soon Michelle's to be mother, alone and expecting a dead man's child.

Michelle, being raised by her single mother, hated Mishima Zaibatsu and its leader Heihachi Mishima with passion, after hearing the full story from her mother Julia. She vowed that they will never come close to harm her family ever again and trained to become a powerful warrior, in order to be able to defend her land in future.

Heihachi, who has never quite given up on searching for the pendant or the location of Ogre's body slumbering in the ruins, has from time to time send some spies and soldiers to Native's land, only to have them quickly dispersed and defeated by the young Michelle.

Angry and tired of the soldier's constant failures, Heihachi decided to strike in Michelle's most sensitive weak spot - her mother Julia. He managed to arrange a successful kidnapping of her mother and threatened to harm her if Michelle does not disclose the location of the pendant. Michelle, who was brave and not easily intimidated, saw an opportunity to free her mother from Zaibatsu's grasp, during the newly announced King Of Iron Fist Tournament. She made her way up to the tournament finals and after beating up some Tekken Force soldiers, she forced them to reveal the location of where her mother was kept. She managed to successfully rescue her mother and bring her home safely.

Unfortunately for Michelle, she has attracted the attention of two Japanese individuals during the tournament - a sumo-wrestler named Ganryu and an ex-Manji clan member Kunimitsu. The former was so love-struck by Michelle, that he took a position of Kazuya's bodyguard during the second tournament, in order to get close to Michelle, since Kazuya wanted him to get her interrogated (which obviously did not end well for poor Ganryu, who got every bone in his body broken that day). The latter, Kunimitsu, was aware of the rumors circulating around the Native American tribe's secret treasure, and wanted to take it for herself. Since she was expelled from the Manji clan for stealing, Michelle was on her guard during the fight and protected the pendant from her prying hands.

After the second tournament has concluded and resulted in Heihachi taking the conglomerate back from his son Kazuya, whom he was rumored to have killed, Michelle came back to Arizona and decided to destroy the pendant. She did so completely alone, in a remote mountain location, so that no one beside her will know where and how it happened.

 _At least Mom was aware that such power should never reside in hands of anyone_ , thought Julia to herself, as she relaxed in the hot spring. _And that fateful day she had found me... And who has left me there to die in the first place? Who were my biological parents? I will probably never know... Maybe it is for the better..._ . The thought have always brought sadness in her heart.

 _Where did she come from, and why was she left alone up there, on the border of the Apache and Navajo land in such remote location? Were her parents good people? Had she the right to judge them for what they did? Were they even together or was her biological mother abandoned and without means to support herself decided to leave her newborn child to die?_

On that fateful day, as Michelle was making her descent back into the tribe's village, she suddenly heard a newborn crying. At first she was spooked out, since she grew up with all the legends about _skin-walkers_ and other scary Native folklore stories, but she quickly regained her senses and run over to identify the source of the cry. It was in fact a real newborn baby, crying her little lungs out with all strength she could muster.

Shocked beyond belief, Michelle took the baby to the village and called _Child Protective Services_ and nearest hospitals. The baby was abandoned and turned out not to be registered anywhere, there came also no missing child notifications from worried parents. After few months of legal custody battle, Michelle and her mother Julia have gained full custody of the baby and decided to name her Julia as well, as an honor to Michelle's mother. They bonded with little Julia very quickly and could not bare the thought of sending her to foster home. As the little Julia begun to grow up, it became obvious that she was a mix between Native American and Caucasian, however her origins have remained mystery to this day.

Deciding that she has had enough of the overthinking for today, Julia snapped out of her daydreaming phase and decided that she has stayed in the onsen long enough. She sighed and stood out of the warm water and begun to dry herself as best as she could with the tiny Violet Systems gym towel. Since her hair was shorter now, it would dry more quickly, making the process easier. It was still warm in Kyushu, since it was late summer/early autumn period, so she was not too worried about getting a cold by walking at night with wet hair. She quickly searched her spare clothes and undies in her backpack and begun to put them on.

As she was done putting the last piece of clothing on - white tank top with big _Reforestation_ logo plastered on the front, she suddenly got a feeling of being watched.

It was the primal gut-feeling of something being out of place, of not feeling right.

She suddenly felt goosebumps covering her whole body, from head to toe and begun to look around and taking in her surroundings.

 _Easy there girl, there is nothing out of ordinary here, you are tired after whole week of heavy work and a little paranoid, that's all!_ , thought Julia to herself reassuringly, however the feeling of fear in the pit of her stomach grew stronger and stronger with each passing second.

She looked around the clearing, trying to make out all the tiny details. The fireflies were humming gently and flying undisturbed, the steam clouds released by the onsen looked exactly the same as few seconds before, when all felt normal, all trees and bushes were exactly in the same spot, no leaves disturbed by movement. Her breathing begun to calm down as she listened to the sounds of the forest.

And then as her eyes shifted to the left she has finally saw _IT_ \- a pair of yellow, silvery eyes, almost golden in color, staring at her through the darkness.

 _OH MY GOD!_ thought Julia, and tried to scream but instead all she managed to produce was a startled cry. She stepped back instinctively and backed up against the tree trunk behind her, never letting her sight wander off from the pair of eyes shining in the dark.

Julia was raised in Native American tribe, with deep connection to nature. She was familiar with nocturnal animals and was not scared by wildlife at all, but now her heart was pumping loudly in her chest, because whatever was the owner of those eyes was NOT an animal. Instinctively, she felt the owner of this eyes is NOT a human either. It felt more like a lingering presence, emanating an aura of evil and menace, ready to harm her at any given moment.

 _Only Spirits know what this thing is!_ thought Julia and she slowly begun to slide into her fighting stance,

 _It stalked me like prey, observed me since the beginning of my midnight visit here... I had my eyes closed and was buried deep in my thoughts so I did not notice!_ She was now calmer, focused and ready to fight back any potential attacks.

 _Or this thing didn't want to make itself known back then yet! It wants to harm me for sure, I can feel its killer instinct getting stronger!_

This particular night the moon was fool, shining brightly on the night sky, illuminating the small hot spring. However, few moments before, dark, heavy rainy clouds begin to gather on the sky, obscuring the moon slowly. In seconds it got darker and darker and now the only source of light was gone behind the clouds, adding to the horror of the situation.

First drops of the night rain begun to fall from the sky. When they connected with Julia's skin, the sudden cold send a shiver down her spine.

 _OK big boy, you have a whole hot spring basin to cross over before you reach me_ , thought Julia and with small steps she slowly begun to back away in the direction of the labo building. The creature remained in its initial spot and did not move at first.

Never breaking the eye contact, Julia was backing off slowly and when she gained a distance of about 50 feet away from the _onsen's_ edge, she has decided its time to start RUNNING NOW and FUCKING FAST.

With one swift motion she turned around and in a flash started her sprint. Years of discipline and daily martial arts training has left her body in an outstanding condition and she was definitely above average when it comes to physical prowess. However, as it turned out, it was nothing compared to _THIS THING_.

Julia detected a sudden movement to her left side with the corner of her eye and in a flash she was violently yanked backwards. The creature grabbed her by her hair with enormous strength and speed, and begun to walk casually back to the clearing, dragging shocked Julia on the ground behind him like a rag doll.

Julia let out a muffled cry of pain, as she could feel the creature's sharp nails digging into her scalp.

She was blinded by her own hair, wriggling furiously, trying to break its hold on her. Panic begun to really kick in now, as she felt her own blood dripping down her face from the freshly formed wound on her head. She could literally hear her own heart racing wildly in her chest as the creature was dragging her back to the hot spring.

She realized they are back at the _onsen_ , when this _THING_ has decided to toss her back in the water only to grab her head again and put it _underwater_.

 _HE IS ACTUALLY TRYING TO DROWN ME, OH MY GOD_ , thought Julia, trashing frantically underwater, completely panicked now, unable to think rationally anymore. She started to grow weaker and weaker with each passing second, the hot onsen water stinging her eyes and burning her throat,

 _No... please... it cannot end now, not like this..._ , were her last thoughts, before she started to feel her limbs go numb and her mind slipping away.

Suddenly, as if realizing that she is about to die, the creature yanked her back to the surface violently. He fully released his grip on her and she climbed up a little, half limped, half hanging over the hot spring's rocky edge, face down on the stony ground. She was breathing hungrily, taking big gulps of air, fresh blood running on her face down to her neck.

After recovering from the initial shock she suddenly let out an uncontrolled sob.

She did not want to show her weakness in front of _anyone_ like that, but this could have been her last moments and she did not care anymore. The assault happened so fast and she felt completely defenseless for the first time ever in her life.

Dealing with thugs and other skilled fighters through the years, she could always defend herself and rely on her fighting skills and speed. This was the first time ever in her life that she was caught off guard completely, unable to lift a finger to fight back, and could have ended up getting murdered within seconds, alone in a foreign country, by _THIS_ thing.

Tears streaming down her face in full now, she couldn't bother to keep the strong facade anymore.

 _What the hell has just happened!? What is this thing and why did it try to drown me, only to yank me back to surface almost immediately mere seconds later!?..._ , thought Julia, shaking uncontrollably as she sobbed quietly, the creature unmoving, still crouched in front of her. Unbeknownst to Julia, the biggest shock of the day was still yet to come.

Suddenly, she felt the creature reaching its clawed arm over to her and touching her back very gently, in a comforting gesture.

Julia's eyes shot wide open.

 _\- GOMENASAI,_ came a voice, sounding like a rough deformed human voice, mixed with an almost grotesque animalistic growl.

Julia still lied face down, now paralyzed with fear and anticipation of what just happened. Very slowly, she lifted up her head and gathered her remaining courage to look at the creature.

She was faced with what appeared to be its boots, or rather what has remained of its boots, since its huge talons have torn them to pieces. One arm was hanging on its side and one was still on her back. Huge sharp claws have ripped open what appeared to have been red gloves or arm guards. The creature had remnants of human clothes on, black pants and black biker leather jacked.

Slowly lifting her head up further she realized why the leather jacket is ripped open - _THIS BEING HAD WINGS. HUGE BLACK, FEATHERY WINGS_.

 _THE DEVIL GENE!_ , suddenly full on panic mode set in Julia again and she felt a sudden surge of adrenaline shooting through her.

The creature resembled the abominations that Dr Abel and the Mishima Zaibatsu tried to create using her _GENOCELL_ program. She saw the prototype images of the beings, huge black wings, protruding horns, sharp teeth, abnormal strength and fighting ability.

 _It cannot be!_ panicked Julia, _This twisted research facility was destroyed completely! I made sure myself that the data is erased completely from all backup storage existing in the Zaibatsu, so no one could ever create such wicked project again! Lars and Alisa have triple checked that no other unregistered research facility branch had a copy!_

Finally, she lifted her head up completely and found herself staring directly into the creature's face.

Long black horns protruding from both sides of its head, black patterns resembling tattoos scattered all over its face and neck, and _the eyes_ , shining with that distinctive golden-silvery glow.

The creature tilted its head to the side and stared back at her curiously. Then, the realization crept upon her slowly,

 _She knew that face...,_

 _SHE KNEW THAT HAIR,_

 _... and sure as hell she recognized the remnants of those RED ARM GUARDS, because their owner has put hist fist into her face more than once, while wearing them during the 3rd, 4th and 5th Iron Fist Tournaments._

Then she begun to scream

...

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

...

Chapter 2 - The Midnight Detour

 _Since Tekken story line is such a mess now, with bits and pieces of contradictory information all over the place (like Zafina's T7 Japanese bio, which basically cancels most of Tekken 6 story line LOL), I will follow the canon with slight modifications._

 _In Jin's story, the war was started by Kazuya's G Corporation and Mishima Zaibatsu under Jin tried to stop it, but was too late and Azazel emerged and had to be defeated. I never liked the direction the story took after Tekken 5 anyway, did not make sense to me to suddenly make our favorite mamma's boy the big war instigator :). Did not fit his tragic character IMHO._

 _I also dislike the whole Tekken 7 story journalist thing and Heihachi telling the world his story. I remember once in Tekken 2 anime it was mentioned that no one knows who the leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu is, and Jun who was investigating, managed to get his only existing photo made by some secret service to go interrogate him over animal smuggling. I like this idea better - big conglomerates with their tentacles everywhere running things from shadows, with family feud in-between, that not many people are aware of (and not Heihachi having his epic family feud out as Insta Story XD)._

 _Sorry for the long time it took for the update, thank you for all reviews and hope you enjoy this read!_

...

The sun has slowly begun its ascent over the eastern hemisphere in the early morning hours, illuminating the peaceful, rural landscape on the island of Kyushu.

In one particular small village, the first sun rays have made their way through an open window of a remote house, located on one of many hills surrounding Beppu city, in the Ōita Prefecture. The resident of this particular house, still deep in his slumber, has begun to stir and toss slightly as the warm sun rays started to caress his face.

Usually, he would be up before the sun has begun to raise, heading out into the forest to follow his strict martial arts exercise routine, where he could practice alone and undisturbed, before the rest of the townsfolk woke up to resume with their daily activities.

This is how he was raised on the remote island of Yakushima, by his mother Jun Kazama, an Iron Fist Tournament veteran, and a master of the Kazama Style Traditional Martial Arts. She has passed her morning routine training habit onto her son, teaching him how to listen to nature and stay focused to perfect his movement. She used to remind him that even though he had inborn talent for fighting, he should never abandon daily practice and should challenge himself to become even better.

His mother's teachings have paid off, since due to his extraordinary fighting skills, her son has managed to defeat True Ogre during the third Iron Fist Tournament, and win the fifth tournament, resulting in him taking control in the Mishima Zaibatsu. The disaster that followed these events, namely the sixth Iron Fist tournament and the events surrounding its conclusion, has destroyed many lives and wrecked havoc in many countries around the world.

An old prophecy from ancient Egypt has foretold that w _hen two evil stars come into contact, the seal of the tomb will be broken and the one held captive will be released, inevitably bringing about the destruction of the world_. The one who have not been named and to have been released, was no other than Azazel himself - _the Rectifier,_ an ancient being who once ruled the realm, but as the legend says was overthrown by his subordinates and imprisoned in the very tomb that was once build to worship his name.

The negativity and chaos caused by G Corp and Mishima Zaibatsu engaging in conflict, with G Corp being the secret instigator, has enabled the tomb's seal to be broken and released Azazel from his slumber.

Little did people know, it was thanks to Jun Kazama's son that the literal end of the world has been stopped, and conflict was put to an end.

Initially, after Jin Kazama took control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, during the first weeks of his reign, he noticed that G Corporation has been capturing and robbing Mishima Zaibatsu's soldiers of their equipment and armor on regular basis. There were also several break ins, into the Mishima Zaibatsu's heavy armor storage facilities all over the globe. It did not take long to find out why.

First reports of Mishima Zaibatsu's soldiers cruelty and pillaging of smaller and weaker countries started to emerge. Jin realized, much to his horror, that G Corporation lead by no other, than his biological father Kazuya Mishima, is sending armed forces, posing as Zaibatsu's soldiers to invade and kill innocent people, in order to provoke Jin to make his move. He was left with no choice, but to start an opposing campaign to G Corporation. However being an extremely evil and cunning man, Kazuya has already anticipated that, and had even worse surprise in store for Jin.

G Corporation was sending their own soldiers dressed up as Zaibatsu's soldiers, using the stolen gear and weapons, only to launch a rescue operation some weeks after, sending their own soldiers yet again, this time in full G Corp troop armor, posing as saviors and opposition to the fake Mishima Zaibatsu. Being the amoral and vile person that he was, Kazuya Mishima had no remorse letting his own troops butcher one another for creating good PR.

For people who were being under attack, often left without means to survive, the G Corp troops came as a blessing. Little did they know it was literally a blessing in disguise... .

In the end, Jin managed against all odds, to arrive in Egypt just in time to stop Azazel from fully emerging from his tomb. He sacrificed himself in order to defeat The Rectifier once and for all and discover the source of the Devil Gene. After the fight, Jin was presumed dead and the United Nations have sent their troops to try recover what they assumed would be his remains, and in the meantime Kazuya Mishima has used this as an opportunity to gain even more power.

He send his false troops posing as Zaibatsu's soldiers and military elite to start the cunning take-over of the conglomerate. In the aftermath of the clash, the real remaining Zaibatsu soldier's were left without lead, since the number one general - Lars Alexandersson has officially left the conglomerate back then, to manage his own rebel army called the Yggdrasil and Jin's right hand, the Irish assassin elite - Nina Williams proved to be a bad leader. She was a lone wolf, better suited for solo missions than managing world's biggest military business.

There was however one last obstacle to Kazuya's cunning plan - none other than his father Heihachi Mishima.

Heihachi managed to make his grande comeback and take back what remained of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Without access to its full military potential however, he realized he will not be able to defeat Kazuya in an open battle, so he decided to seek more supernatural means.

Mishima Senior was aware of the existence of the secret exorcist organization called The Archers of Sirius, located in the Vatican country. He had arranged a meeting at their headquarters in order to lure out their leader - Claudio Serafino. The two clashed in battle, with Heihachi emerging victorious, even after being a _mere human_ without any spiritual powers.

Claudio was impressed with Heihachi and realized that their goal is the destruction of the Devil Gene as a whole. The two returned to Japan with joined forces and proceeded to hunt for their first target - Kazuya Mishima.

Slowly, other reports started to emerge from the Far East - about other supernatural evil force being sighted in rural Japan, near Kyoto region. Heihachi, curious by nature, decided to go investigate himself.

The evil force turned to be Akuma, also known as Master of the Fist- Gouki. Once a renowned martial arts student, who turned on his master and killed him in order to pursue darker, forbidden power Satsui no Hadō.

Heihachi has yet again proved himself invincible. He and Gouki clashed numerous times and each time despite his dark, supernatural side, Akuma has been defeated.

During the final confrontation Gouki has finally revealed his true motives of fighting Heihachi - he made a promise to Kazumi Hachijo long time ago that when the time is right he will kill her husband and her son. The relationship he shared with Heihachi's late wife Kazumi and what kind of favor he is repaying to her, much to Heihachi's dismay, has remained unknown.

Their final fight was interrupted however by G Corporation's troops and Jack type 6 military robots. Heihachi and Akuma have briefly joined forces in order to defeat the Jacks and found themselves overpowered. In the chaos of the battle, Heihachi seemed to have been defeated and Gouki has presumed that he must have been killed. He left to move on to his next target - Kazuya Mishima. Little did Akuma know, that it was all part of Heihachi's greater plan - he wanted Gouki to confront Kazuya, so he can expose to the world what his son really is...

After long battle of defeating most of the G Corp security elite, Akuma has found himself confronting Kazuya on the top of the G Corporation Tower. As the two engaged in combat, Kazuya noticed that Gouki just like himself is using much darker power in battle, and made the fatal mistake of launching his Devil Gene power to transform into his true self. The old, cunning bastard Heihachi has just waited for this moment to happen.

As soon as the Devil power within Kazuya was revealed, he launched the biggest live-stream the world has ever seen, exposing the G Corporation leader to millions for what he really is.

Many people to this day are still skeptical of what they have seen, while many are arguing that this is the final proof that the supernatural forces in fact do exist, and are a danger to humanity.

The final result of the Gouki vs Kazuya battle remains unknown, since Kazuya managed to destroy the Zaibatsu's network before the fight was over, by launching his laser beam into space, successfully shooting down the transmitting satellite.

Afterwards the last, long-awaited showdown between the father and son has begun.

They met to fight at the edge of the very same volcano that Kazuya has been thrown into 22 years earlier, only to be retrieved and brought back to life by G Corporation some days later.

One can say that Heihachi can be questioned and despised about many things - his megalomania, cruelty, ego-centrism, all evil deeds and crimes he has committed during the years etc., however what can never be questioned is his fighting skill.

Frustrated, Kazuya Mishima had to go all out, straining his Devil form to the maximum sustainable by his human body, yet it still proved not enough to defeat Heihachi.

A _mere human_ , without any supernatural powers had proved to be the best fighter in the universe, even at the ripe age of 78, and Kazuya after many futile attempts could not win against him.

Kazuya Mishima had to retract his Devil Form and fight with his skill only. Soon he begun to be over-consumed by hatred, as the memories from his life, and from his mother's life begun to flow right before his eyes. He realized that it is Kazumi, his late mother, who is aiding him, by revealing through their connected Devil powers, what Heihachi has really done to her and the Hachijo clan. The mother was helping her son even from beyond her death.

In one final moment, Kazuya has gathered all the hatred and pain he felt for his father into his final punch and he aimed right into Heihachi's chest.

The old man has finally gave in.

He broke down under the force and power of his son's fist and after few last breaths, his heart has finally stopped beating.

Kazuya Mishima has finally managed to kill Heihachi Mishima.

After realizing what has just happened, Kazuya needed a few moments to gather himself and approached the dead body of his father.

 _Finally after all these years_ , he thought, as he gathered the deceased into his arms, lifted him up, and approached the edge of the volcanic crater.

He took some time to stare and savor the view below him - the boiling lava, the mix of fiery orange, red and yellow, reminding him of the very depiction of what hell might actually look like.

Kazuya took one last look at his father's lifeless body gathered in his arms, took one last step closer to the edge and finally let him fall.

Just like that it was over. The years of humiliation and pain he had to endure because of his father. All gone in this one moment.

Kazuya felt enormous relief and emptiness at once, difficult to define. It was like reaching your ultimate goal in life, only to realize once you did it there is nothing waiting for you after.

However soon as he made his way back to Tokyo, he realized that he knows exactly what he wants to do after. The Devil within him did not only crave revenge, but he craved an absolute power over the realm. And in order to obtain this power he needed to take back what was supposed to be his long time ago - The Mishima Zaibatsu.

Amidst the chaos, the fake Mishima Zaibatsu soldiers, set up earlier by Kazuya have managed to sneak their way into the leader-board of the Mishima Zaibatsu, soon forming the majority of the voting power and blending in with the true remaining military elite.

After few weeks, no one questioned who is in charge anymore and Kazuya became the owner of most of the Mishima Zaibatsu, fulfilling his lifelong dream of revenge against his father Heihachi Mishima, who has defeated him during the second Iron Fist Tournament.

After 22 years since the last time that he sat in the Mishima Zaibatsu throne room, Kazuya proved himself yet again to be a ruthless leader. Now with combined forces of G Corp and Mishima Zaibatsu under his command, he has gained full control of most of the world's natural resources and oppressed many nations. He announced that G Corp will now be merged together with Mishima Zaibatsu under the latter's name.

Some time after a lot of events happened at once. While Kazuya was busy incorporating G Corp into Zaibatsu's structure, Lee Chaolan and Lars Alexandersson have been busy gathering resources and forming a coup d'etat plan in order to defeat Kazuya and finally dismantle the conglomerate.

Some time earlier they have managed to retrieve Jin Kazama from the hands of the United Nations troops, in the Sahara desert.

It could not happen without the aid of the infamous Korean Tae Kwon Do specialist and military veteran known as Hwoarang.

Hwoarang being the ultimate rival slash stalker slash friend of Jin Kazama, had managed to trace him and confront him in a small Egyptian village.

As it turned out Jin Kazama has awaken and escaped the United Nation's forces, only to uncontrollably devil-out in the middle of the desert and fly to first location available - which was, unfortunately for its residents, a small oasis village located at the top of the Sahara.

By this time, Hwoarang was already roaming Egypt, searching for Jin everywhere and asking people if they saw anything resembling a devil or an angel and a guy with spiky black hair and protruding horns, so when the news spread around that a creature fitting this description has been sighted in the small village on the verge of Sahara desert, he hopped on his motorcycle and rode whole two nights back from Cairo.

When he finally arrived, the situation was already _BAD_. He reached the old market area in the middle of the village, only to witness civilians running around in chaos, with United Nation's troops going nuts all over the place, throwing grenades, shooting and shouting orders frantically at each other.

In the middle of this all was he - infamous Jin Kazama, looking exhausted and dehydrated and really pissed off, trying to fight off the soldiers off him on his own.

Hwoarang also noticed that Kazama had some sort of psych ward costume situation going on, with loose straps all over, like he broke out of some sort of containment. Being the hot headed fool he was Hwoarang jumped right in the middle, and instead of trying to talk to people he fought along side Kazama.

It didn't take long before Jin deviled-out again.

Who knows what triggered the transformation this time, but soon adding to the overall chaos was Devil Jin flying around, shooting laser beam all over the place, with Hwoarang trying to avoid getting shot while screaming _KAZAMA YOU PIECE OF SH**, AT LEAST TRY TO KEEP IT TOGETHER ONE TIME, CAN'T YOU?! ._

Suddenly a grenade has been launched by one of the UN's troops and unfortunately for Hwoarang, he got hit by a splinter in the eye, resulting in him loosing his vision partially.

These events prelude the arrival of Lars Alexandersson in his bad-ass military jeep, a courtesy of Miss Lily Rochefort, to the scene. He managed to rescue Jin and Hwoarang and take them back to the safe zone and eventually they found themselves back on a plane to Japan.

On the way back they realized that Jin Kazama has fallen unconscious. It was probably a mix of multiple factors, such as dehydration, hunger, the aftermath of straining his body with the Devil transformation etc. . By the time they reached their destination, namely the Violet Systems HQ in Japan, they were informed that Kazuya Mishima have very likely finally either incapacitated or killed his father, since a merger between G Corp and Mishima Zaibatsu have been announced.

Few days later their secret service agents managed to confirm that indeed Heihachi Mishima was dead, and for good now.

Reactions were varying, as expected. Lee Chaolan has ordered his secretary to bring his best bottle of champagne from Violet Systems' secret stash vault (containing mostly exquisite wines and other alcohols accounted for as entertainment expenses in the company books), Hwoarang just grunted and asked if Jin has already woken up from his coma, so he can beat him up, while Lars... Lars never said anything and his expression remained unreadable through the entire meeting.

Soon they realized that they are now facing a bigger problem - Kazuya Mishima.

Him taking over Mishima Zaibatsu proved to be even worse than him and Heihachi battling over it, since he had now the absolute power over unimaginable amount of resources, military, state-of-the-art research facilities and wealth.

The only way for them to succeed, was for Jin Kazama to wake up from his coma, and put an end to his maniac of a father.

Lee couldn't believe their luck when it finally happened.

One day the doctor monitoring Jin's overall well-being came back with promising news - the patient has begun to move his finger. They all barged in to the provisory hospital room, which they prepared for Jin in Violet Systems' basement, to come and see it with their own eyes.

Hwoarang was the first one to Jin's side shouting something along the lines of _Kazama you a**hole you better wake up soon before Kazuya destroyed half of the globe!_ much to the nurses horror, with Lee following close second, complimenting the doctor on the progress and staying classy as usual, and Lars coming in last, staring at Jin silently with glare full of hatred.

Lee did take notice of the building animosity between the two and realized what was the reason. While Lars was busy mobilizing his rebel army, Jin already found out about that through some of his spies. Lars was just, open and way more naive than Jin, he did what he felt was right. Little did he know, the Mishima Zaibatsu troops that were suddenly invading poor countries were in fact the fakes set up by Kazuya, to make people believe that the Zaibatsu is the antagonist in this mess. Jin has already realized what was happening, unlike Lars, and instead of informing him to prevent his rebellion - an unnecessary rebellion as it turned out, he decided to keep him in the dark, to get him out of the way basically.

Lee understood Lars' anger, in his opinion it was justified. Lars was led to believe that he is doing the right thing and put all energy and resources he had into his plan, only to discover that he was being played by Jin this whole time just to keep him occupied, so Jin can have go fight Azazel undisturbed. Not to mention Alisa the android was Jin's eyes all the time, spying on Lars and his movement, so Jin could read him like an open book.

 _There is a limit to how much a man's ego can handle_ thought Lee to himself, but he preferred to keep his opinion about this whole fiasco to himself. Enough work for him now, last thing he needs is an angry lion at his throat right now.

Since this one time when Jin moved his finger, every day little by little, there was small progress. First it was one finger moving, then two, then whole hand, then legs and finally he managed to open his eyes for the first time in two months.

First few days he was just staring at the people gathered in the small gloomy room with him, no expression on his face, no attempt of communication. Then after two weeks real progress - Jin started to attempt to talk and point with his finger what he wants, simple things like food or water, since he could finally eat normally and did not need to be intubated anymore.

The whole recovery process took about 4 months and by the beginning of spring, Jin Kazama was back to his old self, training every day, stronger than ever. He trained with Lars and Hwoarang and... Nina Williams, who upon hearing that Jin is awake decided to join forces with him once more. Her lucrative assassin contracts were sabotaged, since Kazuya was busy wiping out every opposing fraction, including Mafia Syndicate which was her No 1 employer for her solo missions.

Nina has also managed to mess up _BIG_ time. She got a generic contract from Yakuza to assassinate some middle-management importance boss from rival mafia group and she was promised a bonus if she manages to kill him on his wedding day. Nothing extra ordinary for someone of her expertise.

Fast forward to the assassination date - Nina Williams has formed a plan - she will take the wedding gown of the bride and use the veil to cover herself. And so she did... .

In the middle of the chaos that emerged, when the groom has just lost his head from Nina's katana slice, before he could answer _I DO_ , the real bride-to-be has entered the chapel, being no other than ANNA WILLIAMS herself.

Nina was busy cutting the heads off the other thugs, body guards etc., when she realized what was going on.

 _I just offed my sister's soon to be husband... well SH*T!_ thought Nina as she avoided a rocket launcher bullet flying her way.

In a deadly battle that lasted for days, Nina and Anna have managed to completely destroy the beautiful wedding chapel and surrounding areas and making headline news.

Deciding it was enough exposure for now Nina decided to call it quits and she escaped using her grapple device leaving Anna even more angry in the middle of the ruins.

Due to the aforementioned circumstances it was indeed maybe better for Nina to keep low profile for now, and being Jin Kazama's training buddy in some underground Violet Systems facility seemed like a not-so-bad idea.

Soon a day has come, that Jin has recovered enough to fight Kazuya. It was necessary and urgent, since last few months, Kazuya has gathered enormous power and wealth and who knows what he intends to do with it.

They discussed their approach, and assumed best would be just to fight Kazuya head on. No sneaking up to his facilities and wasting all effort and energy to deal with security and military thugs, but just straight on approach.

First they gathered intel about Kazuya's possible whereabouts. After making sure the info is reliable, they would send a state-of-the-art, mini-drones prototype, created in Violet Systems for espionage purposes, to spy on Kazuya.

After establishing a location and seeing via the drone an image of Kazuya confirming that it is indeed him, Jin Kazama has departed...

As days passed Lee, Lars, Hwoarang and Nina have waited... a week, then two weeks with no news... and then finally it was on every tv and every news channel

 _BREAKING NEWS: Dramatic eruption by one of Japan's biggest volcano - The Sakurajima, located near Kagoshima, on the island of Kyushu. The situation is dramatic, the whole Sakurajima island is being evacuated, multiple witness reported seeing a black and violet smoke emitting from the volcano just before eruption! Other witness speak of strange flying creature sighted at the top of the Volcano crater seconds before the smoke has started! The volcanic eruption has caused an earth-quake of 6.8 Richter scale magnitude [...]_

The same day Jin Kazama has returned back to Violet Systems HQ covered in blood.

His clothes were torn and he was covered in multiple wounds, most prolific were on his back, two huge gashes, open up to the flesh, like something grew out of there and disappeared, leaving broken out skin and muscle. Same type of wounds were located at the sides of his skull, thankfully the bone was unmarred, but he literally had two huge bloody holes at the side of his head... .

He was different. He seemed completely calm and empty, like a switched-off cyborg. He did not utter a word to anyone and the doctor's were busy bandaging his wounds. They did not ask any questions either, probably for their own good. It was soon apparent that the blood and pieces of flesh that they washed away from him were not only his own... .

After spending another long month in recovery Jin has finally begun to speak. When Lars asked him if Kazuya Mishima was truly gone, Jin only nodded and answered _it's done_ , with a numb expression on his face. They never asked about this again and never pressured him to tell how it went down.

The summer had just begun in Japan and Lee had returned to his usual activities in Violet Systems HQ, while Nina and Hwoarang aided Jin and Lars in dealing with the aftermath of the war. Their goal was to get rid of all dangerous technology and unethical research left by the Zaibatsu and to completely demilitarize and dismantle the network that Heihachi has build in his lifetime. No conglomerate ever again should have this much influence and power.

Jin Kazama was dividing his time by working remotely and helping Alexandersson from his property in Kyushu, or going with either him or Nina or Hwoarang to a country they were helping in once every few weeks if his presence was required, and travelling to meet up with Lee Chaolan in Violet Systems HQ, which was a few hours drive from where he was living currently.

Dismantling the Mishima Zaibatsu was not a simple task, and to fulfill it will probably take a lifetime. The conglomerate was old, and was started in the late 19th century by one of the early Mishima's , who were ancient and noble samurai clan once, later to be passed onto Heihachi's father Jinpachi Mishima.

The problem with the Zaibatsu was that it had so many connections and such an enormous network, and wealth, that directly shutting it down would wreck even more economic chaos than the war did.

They owned most of businesses in Japan and overseas, if not directly, than via daughter and sister companies, and some of these businesses included even banks, so it was a delicate web to dismantle. Jin was a smart man, and knew it will be a lifetime job for him to tackle this, not to mention all the forbidden technology the Zaibatsu owned and created - _which one should be made public if it can save lives or be used in advance medical treatments? which one would be a danger to society if it fell into the wrong hands? etc._ . These were all very hard ethical questions, which they needed answers for.

Some nights he would lie awake, overthinking everything and re-analyzing for the hundredth time, _what is potentially the best solution to a given problem?, did he not miss anything in his analysis?, who he should ask for opinion?_ etc., until early morning hours came and his alarm went off and he realized he will have to zombie-through his whole day, because he did not catch a minute of sleep...

Well, this time it was definitely not one of these nights.

He slept extremely deep and undisturbed for first time in months.

Jin opened his eyes and much to his surprise he realized that the sun was already up for a long time. Being used to waking up around 4-5 am every day, the temperature in his room was beginning to become unbearable. He yawned, stretched his arms and legs and tore his bed sheets away.

He stared down at his body in shock.

He was extremely filthy, covered in mud and dirt, his clothes were torn to pieces and there were leaves everywhere.

 _No... this cannot be real...!_ he thought to himself as his heart rate begun to accelerate. Jin was not someone easily swayed as he had natural calmness within him backed up by years of meditation training.

Looking around the room, he noticed there were muddy prints _everywhere_.

Alarmed he went downstairs, opened the front door and noticed that his motorcycle is gone. An enormous headache started to build up under his skull, that he knew all too well.

One of the side effects of transformation with the Devil Gene, were the _hangover migraines_ as he have called them.

The transformation strains the host's body enormously and afterwards he felt weak, with a lot of muscle and back ache and head bursting into blazing pain. Not to mention a memory loss surrounding the event, so no recollection of events protruding the transformation which could help him identify and avoid possible triggers... .

His hands begun to shake en he needed to sit down.

 _THINK!_ he thought to himself as he buried his face into his hands, _what is the last thing I remember from last night...?_

Jin's last memory from the night before was being on a bike. He closed his eyes as he recalled driving down the highway on his way back from... where exactly? He went back to his room to look for his cell phone. He found it in the remains of his destroyed biker jacket, miraculously unharmed. He started to scroll down all the messages from last evening and days before to trigger a memory.

 _Of course... Hwoarang...illegal racing..._ the red-headed idiot had decided that they both need a small break from their dismantle the Zaibatsu job, so he proposed that they can race on their bikes on an empty, newly build highway.

And of course Jin agreed.

Jin cringed mentally at the memory. They were racing with some other thugs from Hwoarang's gang, Japanese and Korean, on the freshly finished but still closed speedway, and just as Hwoarang thought he was winning it, with Jin being close second, Jin took a risk and rode on a work platform just above Hwoarang and jumped through a shortcut, cutting the turn and rendering himself a winner.

Needless to say Hwoarang has lost it.

Calling him all sort of names and trashing and kicking random stuff on the ground, Hwoarang threatened he is _gonna burn him a new one with his cigarette,_ while Jin just stared and remained calm through the whole ordeal.

His gang crew members were dead laughing.

Suddenly, a police siren was heard in the distance with their light flashing coming at them with high speed.

Jin just uttered short _thanks, bye_ and pressed the nitro button on his bike and switched off his headlights. He rode something close to 300 km/h into the darkness until he reached the intersection with the open, legal highway part.

The last thing he recalled was passing the Hong Kong policeman Lei Wulong on his bike as he was issuing a speeding ticket to some other biker, possibly the one from Hwoarang's crew... .

And then nothing.

His next memory is opening his eyes this morning and that's it.

 _Kami-sama..._ Jin sighed, calmed himself and rang Hwoarang's number.

It took few long rings to finally reach Hwoarang, as he was probably asleep.

- _YOU F***ING PRICK, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CHEATING LIKE THAT IN FRONT OF MY GANG MEMBERS, I AM GONNA KICK YOUR A** THIS TIME FOR GOOD WHEN I FIND YOU_ , the words greeted Jin from his cellphone speaker.

- _Good morning_ , answered Jin, which was apparently a bad choice.

- _WHAT THE F***! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU IDIOT [...]_ , Jin couldn't help but to face-palm hard.

- _Gomennasai..., listen Hwoarang, this is serious... I might have blacked out last night...,_ said Jin finally. This seemed to successfully get the red-heads attention.

- _WHAT DO YOU MEAN BLACK OU... oh, shit Kazama, don't tell me... have you transformed?_ , Hwoarang asked suddenly concerned.

- _I am afraid this might be the case... I have no recollection of what happened after I got to the highway... ,_ after a pause Jin added, _I cannot find my bike either. It is not here._ , being always straightforward and truthful he decided to tell everything, _I woke up covered in mud and leaves... it is possible I caused the same type of damage like I did in Yakushima before the 5th Tournament..._

- _You mean like you deviled-out in the middle of Yakushima forest, and then realized you destroyed trees and stuff?_ , Hwoarang asked

 _-I sincerely hope this is only trees this time... I... I have no idea,_ said Jin honestly. He could not shake off that nagging feeling that something bad has happened last night and that he has hurt someone.

He noticed there were slight bloodstains on the remnants of his right glove and he was pretty sure they were not his own.

- _OK, look Kazama,_ said Hwoarang, realizing the magnitude of the situation, _the least I can do it try to go out and look for your bike, I will try see if it is still parked somewhere there along the legal highway and I will let you know_.

- _Thanks a lot..._ said Jin, slightly relieved, _I will browse the news and see if there was no unusual occurrences in the area... one's I might have caused... my bike has a chip so normally if someone will find it before you do, they can check my info and call me back, unless they decide to steel it of course..._

Hwoarang made a long noise in the telephone, _-Fuck man, I really hoped to have a nice weekend, without much to do, and you deliver me this kind of drama as a first thing waking me up_

 _-I apologize_ , said Jin sincerely, _after this is over I am in your debt._

- _Don't be such a drama-queen Kazama. You still own me a rematch you friggin prick._ , shouted Hwoarang, then he added a little bit more calm, _I will do what I can, I hope no one got hurt..._

 _-Thanks, bye Hwoarang,_ and with this he ended the call.

Jin decided he needed to shower before he headed out. He headed to the bathroom, stripped of his clothes and for a brief second looked in the mirror to examine his wounds.

He turned and looked at his back. There were two huge wounds on his back, in the same place where his wings would appear. They hurt and burned badly. He took out a disinfectant spray from the shelf and proceeded to apply it to the open wound. He clenched his teeth and fought back the urge to scream. Finally after he endured the worst of the pain he started to check the wounds on the sides of his head.

The wounds formed for the first time after he had defeated Kazuya... He did all in his might to erase this fight from his memory... Before any of the trauma started to come back up to the surface, he refocused his attention on the rest of his body.

He had minor cuts on his body like he was running through forest and the tree branches cut his skin. These were not concerning to him, however the other cuts were...

His whole right hand and chest was covered in scratches. They looked like scratches that came from a cat or... long nails.

The feeling of panic returned, and he put his hands on the sink to support himself. He begun to sweat and he had to fight back the feeling of wanting to throw up.

Jin looked up in the mirror again, and his face stared right back at him. He suddenly felt disgusted with himself and he decided to just head into the shower. He put the water temperature to the max until it was almost burning his skin.

After he got out of the shower he went downstairs to quickly grab something to eat before heading out. When he was ready he jumped into his car and decided that his first best choice will be to check out the highway entrance where he was sure he saw Lei Wulong the night before.

After arriving at this destination and driving few more kilometers ahead he spotted some sort of construction team working at the side of the highway bridge.

He could not make out what they were doing from afar, however he noticed that they were using a huge lift in order to retrieve something from the river.

As he drove closer he suddenly realized what he was seeing: the object that was being pulled out from the river was non other than his bike...

 _Cannot be..._ , thought Jin, staring at the scene before him. His bike was completely, utterly _ruined_. It looked like it went through a scrap heap shredder, not to mention it was full of various water plants tangled together with the various loose metal pieces.

He also noticed that a part of the barrier of the bridge is destroyed as well. _I must have transformed right before I entered the bridge, jumping off my bike so it crashed and fell into the water..._

He found a small parking spot nearby and took out his mobile phone. Being a practical man, Jin quickly texted Hwoarang to let him know that he can cancel his search and called the police to report that his bike was stolen the night before. He did not want to attract much attention, or being investigated how on earth he managed to drive straight to the river and not die, so this seemed like the best solution.

 _Where did I go after...? No one seem to have reported a guy with wings flying off from the accident scene anywhere on the news,... thankfully, ... so I can assume that no one has seen anything...,_ thought Jin. He was however, still very much concerned what happened later that night, and hoped that whatever grief or damaged he has caused while blacked out can be repaired...

The Devil Gene and its randomness always scared him.

Sometimes he seemed to have experienced moments of pure clarity, where he was fully aware of his powers and could use them as he pleased, with no memory loss, and in other moments such as this one, something random must have triggered his transformation and he had no idea what.

Breaking from his thoughts, just as he was about to head back, however he has received a call from Lars Alexandersson.

His half uncle harbored no family feelings for him for sure, but when it comes to work he was always very strict and organized.

Lars called to let him know that yet another abandoned illegal research facility has been found in the nearby woods this morning and that they need to immediately head there and investigate. He also mentioned that they might want to check in with Lee Chaolan later in the week since it is actually an A.I. related facility, so it might contains some useful technology for Violet Systems if they manage to scavenge whatever intel is to find there.

 _I am on my way_ , replied Jin simply, as he drove out of the parking area, in the direction of the Southern Woodlands.

TBC


End file.
